At Aviation Festival Asia, Karen Chan, Group Chief Commercial Officer, Air Asia Company Limited, joined for a ten minute interview to discuss the airline’s strategy for the coming years. With AirAsia announcing its plans to launch the world’s first low-cost network carrier, the conversation was packed with insight into the airline’s expansion into new routes.
AirAsia is currently at a key crossroad, transitioning from recovery to growth. Listing the multitude of initiatives the multinational low-cost airline is utilising for this transition, Chan touched on building incremental revenue through expansion and diversification, a shift towards connectivity, leveraging ancillaries and more. Explaining the airline’s organic growth, Chan shared:
“We are actually looking beyond The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). […] Now we are looking at how can we actually bring ASEAN to the world and bringing the world closer to ASEAN. So one of the exciting launch inaugurations that we have in March will be flying to Kazakhstan. This is our first foray into Central Asia and we’re very much looking forward to further expansion into Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). We are also expanding into Middle East, we are already flying Jeddah and that will be our first stop. There will be further expansion. “
Chan also detailed the complexities of the current landscape, explaining how the airline has been harnessing challenges as opportunities for innovation. Here, the conversation touched on macro and industry challenges looking at geopolitical tensions, manpower shortages, and the lingering impacts of the pandemic.
Towards the end of the interview AirAsia’s Group Chief Commercial Officer also highlighted the airline’s commitment to inclusivity and diversity. Demonstrating how these principals are embedded within the airline’s foundations, Chan offered concrete examples of how the airline’s “possibility” focused culture has led to transformative stories.
Questions asked include:
- As you navigate the transition from recovery to growth, what will be your top priorities for the coming year?
- What are the key challenges you are facing as an LCC in the current landscape and how are you actively addressing these?
- At the event you were speaking on our inclusivity & innovation panel, how does AirAsia foster inclusivity and what tangible benefits can you see from this?
For more like this see:
- Interview with Jeff Pan, Chief Product Officer, AirAsia Teleport – ChatGPT, future trends, and start ups
- IROPs: Protecting passengers from the adversities of disruption with AirAsia
- Capital A’s surprising shift
